A Deal with the Devil, the Cursed Savior
by InkWave
Summary: What if the Dursley's had been a bit more Christian? Harry's perspective on magic is a bit more open to interpretation of dark and light considering he grew up being called 'devil's spawn'. So when a devil offer's him a deal, he takes it. Mentor Voldemort.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Harry's world changed the moment he finally understood why his relatives called him a devil's spawn. Usually they just called him a freak or boy. But when he did something especially freakish, like growing a full head of hair in a night, the references to being a child of the devil came out. His relatives had always kept fantasy books out of the house, but in general they didn't appreciate the sight of him reading. They thought it made him look smarter than Dudder's, which he was but they were still in denial. The only book they truly allowed him to read in peace was the Bible.

His first bible was the King James version but as the year's past Harry managed to read both the new and old testament. He had even read an English translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Koran. The church that the Dursley's attended had bible study classes for the children. And the teacher had allowed him to borrow the books. The teacher had taken is desire for the books as a true interest, rather than a desperate desire to read something different, and had started to teach him Latin.

But despite all his reading or studying as it became in reality, Harry never believed in God, at least not personally. He believed in a higher power but not in a personal savior that would punish him for his sins. Why would he? The Dursley's were certainly punishing him for absolutely no reason.

It took him years, happening a little before his tenth birthday, for him to put all the pieces together. He was a witch.

Against his better instincts Harry confronted the Dursley's one Sunday before church, the one day he got wear clothing that fit him. "Aunt Petunia, how long have you known I was a witch?"

His aunt screamed in shock and dropped her tea cup, causing it to shatter on the tile floor of the kitchen. "Who told you about magic, devil's spawn?" she hissed in anger. Dudley was looking around stupidly not understanding what was going on. Vernon's face looked like it was going to explode it was so red.

"I figured it out from reading the Bible," Harry replied pleased because he knew from experience that this answer wouldn't get him smacked.

"The Bible?" she hissed in shock. "We taught you about God to try and purify you of the evil freakish taint. Not to teach you about it. But blood always hold's true."

"We were supposed to work the magic out of you. Make you normal, not another devil's spawn," Vernon yelled.

"Does that mean that my parents were freaks too?" Harry asked.

"Yes, my precious sister Lily," Petunia sneered bitterly, "was a freak as well. She received a letter when she was eleven inviting her to the devilish school. She was never the same, they tainted my sister." Harry struggled to hide his excitement, his relatives never told him about his parents. All he had known before was their names and that they died in a drunken driving accident.

"And then another devil's spawn killed her and her freak husband as well. Which made another devilish freak drop you off on our doorstep," Vernon said angrily. "They didn't give us any of your paperwork or money to support you."

"Lily supposedly married a Lord, but that didn't do them any good at all," Petunia put in.

"Will I stop doing mag …" Harry stopped at the evil glare his Aunt and Uncle gave him, "… doing freakish things when I go to school?"

His aunt looked at him shrewdly and then stated, "It certainly improved and since the school is a boarding school she was gone most of the year."

"Petunia," Vernon said looking at his watch, " we need to leave now to make it on time to church." Harry got up to put on his good shoes for church, before his Uncle grabbed his shoulder. "What do you think you're doing devil's spawn? Church hasn't purified you and your kind isn't welcome there. You shouldn't pollute the church for everyone else."

Harry looked up and with the cunning he used to better his life responded, "I need to go to church of Father Philips will miss me. I'm his best student and we've been going to church for years. If you stopped bringing me with you to church it wouldn't be normal."

And that was that. Despite their supposed worship of God, the Dursley's held a higher regard for normalcy. So Harry continued to go to church holding the idea of magic tightly to himself. He found a new found interest in his religious texts as he learned about magic and demons from it. In response to his belief his magic started to calm, no longer reacting so violently to his emotions. All in all everyone in the Dursley household was pleased to have the topic discussed and over with. Dudley even started to avoid him at school because he wanted to avoid being contaminated. All in all Christianity had finally done Harry a good turn.

The arrival of Harry's Hogwarts letter was thankfully delayed due to bad weather. By the time the owl arrived Vernon had already left for work and Dudley hd already gone to meet his friends. Harry quickly opened the envelope and scanned its contents before bringing it to Aunt Petunia.

"Aunt Petunia … the school invitation arrived."

She looked up concerned for a moment. After reading the letter inside she frowned again. Lily's letter had been delivered by a Professor to explain things and take her shopping. Petunia was not going anywhere near magic. "Write back that they need to send someone to explain magic to you. Also don't expect us to pay for any of this. You're lucky Vernon's already left."

Harry nodded before asking tentatively, "Why did you let me stay if you knew I was going to … be like my parents?"

"When they left you on the doorstep, like a carton of milk, there was a letter. It said if we let you stay in the house until you were 17 then we would be protected from any freaks," Petunia replied without much of the usual cruel disdain of anything abnormal.

"When I came back from school … Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked tentatively.

Petunia for once did something considerate for her nephew and told him the truth. "Never come back. Do whatever you have to, make a deal with the devil for all I care. Just don't come back. Vernon … Vernon has accepted your presence so far because of how devoted to God you have been. As a good Christian he wouldn't hurt you, but if you go to the school you will be tainted. After that, I fear he will take inspiration from the Inquisition."

Harry nodded fear rising within him. He knew quite well what happened during the Inquisition. He quickly wrote his response to the acceptance letter and asked for them to get him a few days before school. He could save some money from getting his supplies to pay for an Inn, or something.

A couple days later he received a response that someone would come for him on August 25th. He could barely wait for the weeks to pass, not only because he would learn the truth of magic but to escape his Uncle's assessing eye.

Harry had quite liked Hagrid, but he hadn't provided a very good introduction to magic. He was having trouble thinking of himself as a wizard, since he had personally thought himself a witch due to the references in the Bible. And he couldn't exactly escape the label of freak or devil's spawn wither. Despite his basic conflict with religion Harry had taken all four of his religious texts with him to the magical world. They were the only thing other than his Sunday clothes and Dudley's cast-offs that he owned. He had spent so much time flipping through them he wasn't going to leave them for his relatives to dispose of.

After shopping with Hagrid he had gotten a room at the Leaky Cauldron. So that next morning he had gone down to breakfast and brought his bible with him. The bartender Tom had looked shocked at the book. "Mr. Tom," Harry asked, "what do wizard's believe in? I was forced to learn what muggles believe in, but what is the magical version?"

Tom had given him an eye opening view of the magical world. Not only did witch's and wizard's have different beliefs, customs, and laws. Magic had rules, from the basic tenants of transfiguration to complex magical vows. But the most useful thing Tom had told him to do was check with the goblins before he bought any books since he might already own them.

The Goblins once he had known to ask for more than money had been incredibly useful. And after mentioning that he had heard about his father being a Lord, they quickly explained that he would need to be 17 to claim his heritage. But that any books in the main Potter vault could be accessed, only the money and jewels couldn't be touched until he was off age.

Having become quite accustomed to reading harry gathered a large amount of books in a small bottomless bag he had found in the main vault. And by the time he was packing to leave for the Hogwarts express he had made quite a bit of progress on his journal that documented the rules of the wizarding world and why each existed.

Some of them would seem self-explanatory such as 'Avoid prison'. But he detailed the reference to soul-sucking demons called Dementors that sucked the happiness out of you. All in all, the Bible seemed a bit too accurate about magic for Harry.

Hogwarts in general had been a mix of contradictions for Harry. While he was very happy to escape the Dursley's the magical world wasn't welcoming at all for arrival new to it. The days of research in Diagon Alley might have taught him some of the basics, but in general he was still lost. His unexpected and unwelcome status as a celebrity didn't help either. He had been sorted into Gryffindor, following Hagrid's and Ron Weasley's advice instead of Slytherin. But it hadn't made things easier either way. Ron kept distracting him with wizarding games and didn't have much to say about magic, despite Harry's questions. The questions always seemed to bore Ron so Harry continued his extracurricular reading.

Snape had been the most useless teacher so far, it had taken him months to come close to understanding the rules of potions. It seemed to work on a scale of bases and acids with each ingredient tipping the scale one way or the other depending on how it was prepared. Most potions when completed were neutral with the ingredients properties determining what the potion did. But even understanding that didn't make him a better brewer since he wasn't sure how to adjust for any mistakes.

But Harry's main concern other than surviving his day to day school life, was finding someplace to live this summer. He started out by talking to Ron.

"Ron, where do magical orphans live?" Harry asked one day when they were playing chess in the great hall.

Ron was paying close attention to his pieces before making a move, he then absentmindedly answered, "There aren't any magical orphans. They go to their closest magical relative and since the purebloods are so interrelated it works out."

Harry had then researched the Potter family tree and found out that the Blacks were his closest relatives. Meaning he should have been sent to live with either the Malfoy's or the Tonks. But Andromeda Tonks nee Black had been disinherited, ruling her out. The Malfoy's on the other hand had assisted the man who murdered his parents, unwillingly or not, making them a bad choice as well. Not that he had particularly looked forward to living with Draco Malfoy since he had been a prat so far.

His next inquiry a few weeks later had been to Hagrid. "Hagrid, did my parents not have any friends that could have taken me in after I died?" He had asked the question on one of Ron, Hermione, and his visits for tea. Hermione had been an interesting friend so far. But she seemed a bit too obsessed with school books.

"Well," Hagrid replied hesitantly, "the only friend of your parent's that was alive, well, and not in prison couldn't have gotten custody of you legally. He has even had a lot of trouble keeping his job because of his status." Then the Dragon's egg in Hagrid's soup cauldron started shaking and the conversation had been derailed. Further research had revealed what could make a person ineligible for guardianship if they weren't in prison, sick or violent. Having the blood of a magical creature in sufficient quantity, particularly of a dark creature, was the only Ministry constraint left.

Harry wasn't sure why but Dumbledore called him to his office the day before his detention for smuggling the dragon out of the school that no one knew about except for Draco Malfoy. It soon became obvious why the Headmaster had called him to his office.

"Now, my dear boy, I hear you are trying to find someone to take you in over the summer. I know you didn't go home over the winter holidays but you shouldn't be against muggles now that you've learned about magic," Professor Dumbledore stated with a kindly smile that seemed to hide a bit too much of the Professor's real opinion.

"I need to find a place to stay this summer, because I can't go back to my relatives. My Aunt told me so before I left," Harry replied.

"She can't have meant that, my boy. I'm sure you just misunderstood. The safest place for you is at your Aunt and Uncle's," Professor Dumbledore responded steam rolling over any of Harry's attempts to protest.

Harry left the Headmaster's office in slight shock. The kindly, grandfatherly professor who knew his parents hadn't accepted a word he said and had insisted on him being sent back to his relatives. Dumbledore had also strongly suggested that he would make sure Harry got there, making running away not an option. He knew there would be a magical way to find him.

Any worries that he might have held about Professor Snape trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone faded away. What did he care if Professor Snape wanted to live another couple hundred years? Did it even matter that he'd never learn why Voldemort had killed his parents and tried to kill him? No. If Harry went back to the Dursley's his Uncle would kill him, horribly. A clean death would be better than that.

When he had initially read about the Inquisition Harry had the initial young boy's interest in gross things. But then he had learned what some of the torture techniques described in the history books actually meant. But the true horror hadn't him until walking to school one day he had come across a car accident that had lit the car and its driver on fire. The smell of burning meat, the taste of gasoline in the air, and the blackened body now dominated his mind whenever he thought of the witch burnings.

History of Magic hadn't really talked about it yet since Professor Binns was so obsessed with Goblin wars. But he had read a few books in the library which had clearly stated that, while muggles hadn't often caught real witches and wizard's they had still burned hundreds especially children too young to use magic to help them escape.

He needed to find someone to keep him safe, and soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was the beginning of spring at Hogwarts, but that meant quite little as the castle was in northern Scotland. Harry was shivering slightly as he waited with Ron, Hermione, and Draco as Hagrid prepared to take them into the Forbidden Forest. "Now we are all here to find the injured Unicorn in the forest. As you can see their blood is silver colored. To find the Unicorn quickly we are going to split up into groups," Hagrid said preparing them to split up.

"Hagrid," Harry asked, "what are we supposed to do when we find the Unicorn? Is there a way we can heal it?"

"Ah, I was just going to tell you that," Hagrid replied looking a little repentant for being so forgetful. "If you find the Unicorn send up green sparks. If you get into trouble send up red sparks, not that we won't hurry either way."

"W-what type of trouble?" Draco asked already looking terrified.

"Is there really a way to heal a Unicorn?" Hermione asked.

Hagrid sighed, "There is a way to heal a Unicorn but the Ministry doesn't really approve of it. If you cut yourself and offer the Unicorn your blood and magic they can usually use it to heal themselves. As for dangers in the forest, there are a few creatures but they will avoid Fang and I. But some of the magical plants are dangerous as well so be sure to stay on the paths. Now why don't Ron and Hermione go together, and Draco and Harry as the other pair."

"Then I want Fang," Draco proclaimed grabbing onto the big dog's fur.

Hagrid shrugged, "Well he's a big coward, but have it your way. Now I've seen drops of Unicorn blood on both of these paths so we will split up here." His group quickly disappeared into the darkness making Draco look even more scared.

"Let's go, Malfoy," Harry said impatient to start searching.

"Aren't you scared Potter?" Malfoy asked for once not sounding like a rich snob, which had been his standard all throughout the year. But even so he followed Harry down the path, his hand still clenched in Fang's fur.

"A little bit," Harry replied his eyes finally adjusting to the darkness lit only by the moon and the lantern he carried which shown only brightly enough for them to step over the roots and stones without tripping. "But I'm more concerned with helping the Unicorn. Unicorns are the most sacred magical creatures in the world."

"Don't try and teach me the stories I grew up with," Draco replied a little affronted at being taught a little kids lesson.

"Oh, you were?" Harry replied, "I wish I could have learned about it when I was young so well. But some of the Unicorns legend is rather scary so maybe not."

"I know that if you drink Unicorn's blood you are cursed to a half-life despite it keeping someone who might be on the verge of dying alive." Draco let out a little squeak as he tripped over a moving root and moved closer to Harry and the light.

"That's only if the blood was unwillingly taken from the Unicorn. If its given willingly then it can perform miracles. No the scariest thing is if you kill a Unicorn or if you let one die," Harry said knowledgably. He had just read about it in the library because he had heard Hagrid complaining that someone was injuring the Unicorns in the forest. "There is a story of two brothers Gaius and Clius. Their mother was ill and dying. None of the potions they knew or could buy could help her. Gaius had paid a fortune to various potion makers, while Clius researched in the greatest library of their time for a way to save her. Clius discovered a reference to Unicorn's blood saving a man from certain death, so he returned home in triumph. Gaius was overjoyed as their mother was on death's doorstep. The two men went into the forest and found the cleanest spring and waited for the Unicorns to return."

"Because Unicorns purify the water they drink," Draco exclaimed completely caught up in the story. It was almost as if his mother or father was telling him this tale of warning.

"Exactly," Harry replied before continuing with the story. He still hadn't seen a trace of Unicorn's blood. "As the moon rose directly overhead, the Unicorn's finally came. It was a male and female along with a foal. Clius slowly approached the Unicorns and begged for their help, but before the Unicorns could judge his plea Gaius mortally attacked the mother to draw blood. Clius turned on his brother in anger for hurting the Unicorn, but a gathering darkness had formed over Gaius and sucked out his soul for mortally wounding a unicorn."

"A Dementor," Draco gasped. "Magic punished the man for hurting her most beloved creature by creating the most hated and feared."

"According to legend that is how they are created. A Dementor for every Unicorn killed by a magical being," Harry replied solemnly the story finally captivating all his attention bringing them to a stop. "Now Clius, he had the opportunity to heal the Unicorn who was breathing her last breaths. But instead he gathered the Unicorns blood and raced home to save his mother before she died. He reached his sister who had tended to their mother for all those years and told her the tale. His sister was horrified at his actions and refused to give the blood to their unconscious mother. Before Clius could force his way past her the Unicorn died, cursing the man who let her die to lose everything he treasured. And within day he had. His mother died, his sister disowned him, telling the tale of his horrific actions. Clius was blinded in an accident, his eyes being precious to him as a scholar of some renown. The villagers turned him away forcing him from his home, and he traveled as a beggar forced from town after town for the cursed misfortunes he brought with him. He died alone and forgotten except as a tale of warning."

"Wow," was all Draco could say in response to the story. "You might be one of the best storytellers I've ever heard, Potter."

"Really?" Harry asked, blushing a bit at the sincere compliment from someone who had always been mean to him. But Harry was distracted from their conversation by the wet silver blood he had spotted. "Look, Malfoy," Harry sad as he pointed the Unicorn's blood out. With one glance between them they ran down the path, neither wanting to let a Unicorn die when they could stop it, particularly since that had been their quest when entering the forest.

After almost falling several times they came across the Unicorn gravely injured lying on its side. Hurrying toward it Draco felt the chest move under his hand. "Harry, let me go first as thanks for teaching me the consequences," Malfoy said before cutting his palm with his wand. "I offer you my blood and magic to heal you." The Unicorn licked Malfoy's palm accepting his gift. Malfoy gave a serene little smile, sent up green sparks and then passed out from using too much magic. Harry quickly cut and offered his own palm to the Unicorn, because while Draco's magic had certainly helped the Unicorn it was still gravely injured. "I offer my blood and magic as a gift to heal you, blessed of magic." The Unicorn looked at him intently before licking his palm as well. Harry felt quite faint but he could see that the Unicorn was completely healed as it left the clearing.

"Why did you do that?" a voice hissed from the darkness, before shaping into a being cloaked in darkness.

Harry said the first thing that came to mind, "Are you a devil?"

"No, but I am certainly not an angel in any sense of the word."

"I know, you've accepted the curse of taking a Unicorn's blood unwillingly. You almost killed on. You would've lost your soul," Harry said panic stricken at the thought.

The dark wraith replied with scorn, "That is just folklore."

"But killing a Unicorn creates a Dementor," Harry replied his voice trailing off from stridently angry as he realized the kind of monster he was in front of. "Why, if you were almost dead, would you want your soul sucked out and destroyed over centuries inside a Dementor."

"That is true, Master," another voice came from the wraith sounding weak and sniveling.

"Possession," Harry whispered making the sign of the cross instinctively.

A haunting laugh came from the wraith. "The savior of the wizarding world is a Christian. It seems the rumors that you were left with muggles is true."

"I don't worship God," Harry replied frightened but firm. "I wishi to worship magic, but Christianity and its form of worship is all I know. The muggle all worship one god in different forms or with different figures to represent the facet of God's personality. Why can't magical have something similar."

"You would learn the Olde Ways boy?" the wraith asked curiously. He explained after seeing Harry's confusion, "The Olde Ways are the religion and traditions of old that only purebloods try to follow now." The wraith considered Harry once again, seeing Harry's need for those secrets in his body as he leaned forward, almost falling over. "I could teach you many things boy, in exchange for your help in regaining a body."

Lightening struck Harry, or at least that was what it felt like internally. This was his chance. If he made a deal with this devil, than he would be safe. His savior would be cursed to a half-life for taking a Unicorn's blood, but if he repented to magic he might be forgiven. "If I help you regain a body and help you regain magic's favor will you teach me and keep me safe?"

"I accept you vow," the wraith replied. "So mote it be."

"So mote it be," Harry replied wondering what trouble he had gotten himself into now and with who?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Harry woke discombobulated, but easy observed that he was in the hospital wing once more. It was obvious that he had been woken by the oddly polite yelling, as if the person was trying to be calm about the situation but was failing at containing their volume. A glance from between half shut eyes showed that Draco Malfoy was in the bed next to him and that the man yelling at the headmaster looked like an older version of Draco that needed a haircut.

"The forbidden forest, Albus, as a detention. I cannot think of a more foolhardy punishment. If you knew that a unicorn was in need you should have gathered all the willing seventh years for your search. But instead my son and Harry Potter come back magically exhausted after being found unconscious, where any number of dark creatures could have injured them," Draco's father yelled, still rather politely.

"Mr. Malfoy …" Professor Dumbledore started only to be interrupted.

"Lord Malfoy," Draco's father interrupted. "My family earned the title of Lord due to our efforts for magic itself. And my son lies before me with just such a mark of Lordship on his palm. Disregarding the Olde Ways at this time is not in your favor at this moment."

"Lord Malfoy, your son wasn't in any danger as he was under the groundskeeper protection when they traveled in the forest," Dumbledore said.

"Neither of the boys was under any protection when they were found by your groundskeeper, who couldn't even have cast any magic to save them," Lord Malfoy said angrily. Harry was quite curious about what a mark of Lordship was, so he looked at his palm. The cut the unicorn had accepted his blood from had healed into a silver scar, looking as if actual metal had melded with his skin.

Unfortunately, Harry's movement had not gone unnoticed by the other people in the room. Madame Pomphery took over though, breaking the tension, "You're awake, Mr. Potter. You also seem to have regained your color, but let me check on your magic." She cast a charm which almost felt like a hug to Harry, but whatever it did she seemed pleased with the results.

Before either man could restart the argument or grill Harry for information a blond lady, who harry assumed was Draco's mum, spoke, "Harry you don't mind if I call you that?" Harry nodded before being swept along in Lady Malfoy's pace, "Would you tell me what happened in the forest?" I am worried since Draco hasn't woken yet."

"Well …" Harry started, "Draco made his offering first to the unicorn. But even after accepting his blood and magic the unicorn was still hurt very badly, so I offered my own."

"I hadn't realized that Draco knew the importance of helping a unicorn yet ," the Lady Malfoy replied. "I had thought him a bit young to hear the brutal tale."

Before Lord Malfoy could cut in, since it was obvious that he wanted to, probably to scold his wife for sheltering their son. Harry cut in, "I told him the story, so we both knew how important it was."

"You did?" Lord Malfoy asked incredulous, while Professor Dumbledore looked concerned and almost angry.

Harry held back a bit in response due to his confusion at the Headmaster's expression. Wouldn't the Headmaster want him to learn as much as he could? "I … I looked up unicorn's in the library since Hagrid mentioned that someone was hurting them. He told me before we all got detention."

Lady Malfoy turned coldly to the headmaster, "How many first year children did you send into the forbidden forest with a monster inside it hurting unicorns?"

The headmaster despite looking like he would rather be anyplace else, replied, "Four, Lady Malfoy. But they …" he tried to continue, only to be cut off once more by Lord Malfoy. Dumbledore was actually showing an emotion rather than geniality, Harry assumed he wasn't used to being told off.

"I think we should have this discussion in front of the Board of Governors," Lord Malfoy stated. He then held out his hand for his wife, who gave him hers. After he kissed her palm in farewell he left with Dumbledore following after him closely.

Lady Malfoy turned to Harry and smiled, "It seems we owe you a debt, Harry. For if you hadn't known the consequences for abandoning a unicorn in distress our son would have most likely died."

Harry smiled shyly in return and knew in the depths of his Slytherin soul that this was the moment when he was supposed to ask for something in return. "In return, could you … maybe … tell me more of the stories that explain the rules of the magical world." After a close inspection of his face, she smiled with quite a bit more bite to it.

"It would be an honor to pass on more of the legends to another Lord of Magic, who descended from them."

"You mean my father's family is like Lord Malfoy's? They have done great deeds for magic?" Harry asked, so pleased to learn more about his family.

"Exactly like my husband. But you should have already been taught about your lineage by your magical guardian. Any child that grows up in the muggle world, particularly of your status, can't remain uneducated about their Family Gifts and Values." Lady Malfoy declared looking as if she wanted to track down his guardian and give them a smack across the head.

"No one said they were my guardian," Harry replied, "but I didn't know much about magic before I received my letter. My aunt and uncle only admitted that it existed after I confronted them. That's why I've been trying to figure out the rules of the wizarding world. I've made some progress on my notebook, but it's hard."

The Lady smiled at him and said, "It is a Potter family trait to create a journal or book of some sort. The books written by your ancestors should be in your family vault. I believe your father wrote a prank journal documenting all the pranks he used and created. He was a couple years younger than me but he was quite famous as a troublemaker."

"I only got a few books when I was at Gringotts. I didn't know that I had any books written by my ancestors in my vaults."

"Well, young man, it seems you have a lot to learn about magic and about yourself," she replied before tucking him in, just like a real mother would. 'Goodnight, Harry. May magic's blessing ease your path."

Harry smiled and internally grinned; now he had an answer for Ron who kept bugging him about his girly habit of writing in a journal. It was a family tradition.

Harry didn't know what Ron's problem was, but it was starting to drive him crazy. It had all started that morning. Madame Pomphery had let him go down to breakfast and he had been bombarded with questions from Ron and Hermione.

"Harry, what happened between you and Malfoy?" Hermione asked. "You didn't get into a fight, did you?"

"We saved the unicorn," Harry replied. He knew that Draco and he had a history of hexing each other, but Hermione was smart enough to realize they would never do it anywhere dangerous.

"Malfoy? Saved a unicorn? He's such a prat, he would never do something like that," Ron said immediately dismissing it.

"That's really disrespectful," Harry said coldly. Ron might be his friend but there were limits on how far you could ignore manners.

"He has the mark of magic's blessing on his palm," Ron ignored him until a large eagle owl delivered a large package to him. The package had a letter attached that had a large M impressed in the green sealing wax.

"Why is a Malfoy sending you a package?" Ron asked accusingly.

"You would know the answer to that if you had let me finish the story about what happened last night. But you denied that it really happened," Harry replied angrily.

"Don't fight guys," Hermione input, but it was obvious that she was curious as well.

Harry opened the package still a bit peeved at his friends, but he knew he would know no peace until they knew what was in the package. Besides, Harry wanted to know as well. He began the letter first as was proper.

_Heir Potter,_

_ I hope that these backs help you on your quest for answers. I also hope that you continue to stay true to magic and the values your family prizes. It was lovely to see that not all Gryffindors are out of touch with their Slytherin side._

_ Sincerely, Lady Malfoy_

Harry was pondering the reference to his 'slytherin side' when Ron completely shoved his head into Harry's business both figuratively and literally, by learning in front of Harry in an attempt to read his letter. "What does it say?" Ron asked to Harry's confusion.

Hermione, of course, took up the cause to explain another tidbit of mysterious magic to the muggle raised boy. "I've read that most private correspondence, or correspondence between high ranking members of the community is spelled so only the receiver can read them." Sometimes all the magical quirks that Hermione could explain made him wonder if she had been introduced to the magical world early. She was almost nine month's older maybe with almost a full year she could have read a ridiculous amount of books. Harry certainly wished he had had more than five days to be introduced to magic before class.

Opening the package he discovered multiple books with the stories of old, more generally known to muggles as fairy tales. Skimming through the index Harry actually recognized the title Snow White. It seemed that in ages past the muggle and magical worlds hadn't been so spate. The package also contained an empty book that had a note explaining that it was a journal spelled for privacy that's pages could be rearranged to help him organize his thought on the rules of the wizarding world.

Hermione had immediately snatched up a book, expecting grand magical texts or even knowledge of secrets. Instead she turned up her nose at the apparent fairy tales. "She only sent you children's stories?" Hermione asked disappointed.

"Every story contains a bit of truth," Harry replied not wanting to get in another fight as he defended the magical worlds random appearing rules, that Hermione had already decried. Harry had only heard months later, but it seemed that Hermione had offended all her roommates at the beginning of the year. She had suggested that Lavender get a short hair cut so she didn't waste so much time in front of the mirror in the morning curling it. This of course brought Harry to a rule of magical society he hadn't known. Because hair length was associated with a wizard's or witch's power suggesting someone cut their hair was taken to mean they shouldn't use their magic. Implying, of course, that their magic wasn't any good and they shouldn't practice it. It was all connected back to magic's lords, who whenever their hair was cut re-grew it practically instantly with the length a demonstration of their power.

"Hermione, if you read more books like this you wouldn't make so many mistakes with your roommates," Harry replied acerbically, his patience dwindling. Hermione gathered her books and stormed off in a huff.

Ron was looking at Harry as if he had skinned a cat, rather than successfully argue with Hermione. She was so used to winning arguments that Harry wasn't surprised that she didn't know how to deal with it gracefully. Ron turned away to talk to Seamus which was probably supposed to be a punishment but it allowed Harry to continue investigating the books Mrs. Malfoy had sent him. He was so in groused in a book on wizarding nobility that he didn't notice that he had mail until a letter was dropped on his head.

Harry opened it after hiding it inside his book. It was quite short but it still had quite an impact.

_-Seeker,_

_ We need to discuss the details of our deal quickly. I require the object before the end of the school year and presumably you require assistance before then as well. Meet me tonight after dinner outside the third floor corridor. If you want ot go back on our deal it will strip you of your magic._

_ -Devil_

Harry wasn't certain what he felt more, apprehension or nervousness. Thinking back to all the bible tails of deals made with supernatural creatures, they never turned out well for the human. But either way he knew he couldn't turn back now. Deciding to ignore his doubts and the whole situation in general Harry finished his breakfast and went to his first class of the day, Potions.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Harry was standing uncertainly in a hidden alcove of the third floor corridor cursing himself, he could have made a deal with someone else, anyone else. But, his thoughts thinking more logically they probably would have done exactly what Dumbledore told them to do. Picking someone so dark practically guaranteed that the person wouldn't want anything to do with the headmaster.

After the headmaster's blatant disregard for his opinion and beliefs earlier in the year, Harry's opinion of him had started to sour and not only for personal reasons. The more Harry read about the traditions of magic, the more he found had been hidden from him. But it wasn't just him; it was all the muggle raised children. No one taught them anything more than practical magic and its theory, particularly since history was a joke.

Despite being wrapped up in his thoughts, Harry heard the footsteps coming down the corridor. It was time to learn who he had made a deal with. Taking a step outside the alcove, he blurted out immediately, "Professor Quirrell?!"

But hearing even the first words out of the professor's mouth Harry knew that he wasn't dealing with Quirrell. "On time, Mr. Potter. Good, we need to finish this before curfew or you and I will be missed," the man possessing the Professor stated. Harry would have smacked himself for not figuring out the easy answer to who was possessed.

"Who are you?" Harry asked as he followed the professor to the door that Fluffy was behind.

The man gave an ironic smile, his eyes ruby red, as he replied, "You know who." Despite being a completely aggravating answer it sparked a terrible thought almost unconsciously, Harry wouldn't be getting a useful answer soon. But before Harry could think it through, the professor conjured a harp that immediately started playing.

"How did …?" Harry attempted to ask before being shushed Fluffy had immediately gone to sleep, luckily not on top of the trap door but Harry was starting to wonder why the professor needed his help at all. That thought dominated his thoughts throughout all the challenges. The professor had let him help with the key challenge, but as a seeker it wasn't difficult and Harry had the suspicion the professor could have handled it without him.

After they passed the potions riddle which the professor solved almost immediately, while Harry's mind was still trying to puzzle it out, he finally saw the mirror. It had barely taken them half an hour to make it there, but it was also obvious that the professor hadn't made it past Fluffy before. He had quite a few choice curse words to say that Harry hadn't heard before when the Devil's Snare had entrapped them.

The professor turned to Harry, "Now, I need you to retrieve the stone from the mirror."

"Why do you even need my help? You managed everything else incredibly easily. Did you know it would be here?" Harry asked.

The professor huffed impatiently but recognized the stubbornness of a child dead set on answers so decided to answer him quickly, so that they could leave the trap immediately. "I knew each of the Professor's that Dumbledore asked to add to the protections, but it was obvious that he didn't want them to be actually difficult. A skilled first year could have made it through with the right information. After I learned the way to get past Hagrid's beast, I knew the only challenge left would be Dumbledore's. It was equally obvious he was trying to test you, his light hero, therefore he must have given you a hint on the way to pass his test. When it was time for the challenge, then you would have been informed how to get past it. Now hurry up, Potter."

Despite his thoughts whirling, he went to the mirror and wanted the stone. He wanted it more than anything, because with it the devil possessing his professor would keep him safe. As he watched his reflection put a blood red stone in his pocket. The professor who had been quickly waving his wand looked at the stone in his hand as he offered it to him. "Keep it until tomorrow Potter. If someone with a mature magical core takes it inside these wards it would be destroyed. Keep it safe," the professor commanded sternly frightening Harry once more.

"But won't the other professors come looking for it?" Harry asked terrified that he might be caught. "My dorm room isn't private at all. I don't really have a safe place to put things."

"No password on your trunk … hmm," The professor then pulled the left breast of his robe out and put his wand in the inside breast pocket that Harry barely remembered that he had. A long string of Latin and the professor tucked the stone into the pocket, which remained flat as if nothing was in it.

"That ought to do, Potter. No off you go back to your dorm. You might want ot tell you friends you got lost or found a new secret passage way. I recall most of first year being devoted to learning my way around the castle," the professor said almost nostalgically. Harry wasn't sure if it was a good or bad sign that his cursed savior had gone to Hogwarts. He didn't know of any other magic schools, so it didn't particularly mean anything.

Harry had gone to bed early the night before, crashing from the adrenaline high of meeting his supposed savior and traveling through the obstacles. He also hadn't wanted to deal with Ron and Hermione, who had practically jumped on him once he made it back to common room. Their demands to know where he had been had been more than a little off putting. Since when did they want to know where he was all the time? Unfortunately, looking back it seemed that it had started after the Christmas holidays. It was almost shameful he hadn't noticed before. But Harry knew he had always wanted someone to care about him, it just hadn't happened before. The bible was full of powerful relationship be they benign or filled with betrayal. But everyday life wasn't filled with the amount of passion. Ron and Hermione's possessiveness over him, was almost bible worth, which was more than a little frightening for people had only known for a little over six months.

But maybe Hermione was so passionate because of them saving her from the troll. Filled with curiosity Harry had looked in the books Lady Malfoy had sent him, and he quickly discovered life debts. Harry had never been as frightened by a law of magic as he was by what he read next. Looking back years later it would be the tale of life debts that would push him to work so hard at Defense and Dark Arts. If not he might have fallen into the role of a scholar and advisor as he worked to bring back the old ways. But learn the tale he did.

_Life debts are all at once the most beautiful and most horrible type of magic. Saving the life of another is a beautiful thing that appeals to the hearts of many men and women, as being seen as a hero is a great honor. But with such an honor comes a tremendous amount of influence on the person you have saved. The only time when such an influence doesn't involve consequences is between family, either parent to child, or between a bonded couple._

_ When this was discovered in the 10__th__ century it became a common way to facilitate an end to such a debt through marriage, if such an option was available. Often marriage contracts were used to ensue the bonds completion in that way, despite the rescuer preferring not to marry the person rescued. Many tales were written during the time periods of prince's rescuing princesses and then getting married, happily ever after. This propaganda made the method more socially acceptable but it was often taken advantage of, with fortunes made and stolen as contracts were negotiated by the heads of families. In truth the tale of Oedipus Rex was a more accurate depiction of events. Oedipus saving his mother, who he had never known, was forced to marry her in a push to satisfy the debt. His actual relation would have canceled the debt was it known, but outside forces pushed it to the expected conclusion._

_ While forced marriages attained through any method: contract, potion or blackmail, were common the truly horrible results happened with other ways to satisfy the debt. The magic of the debt if it went unacknowledged for too long, pushed the rescued person into magically induced slavery destroying their free will. It also happened often between friends who fought in battle at each other's sides. During one campaign it was finally discovered that if men had sworn each other as blood brothers, through sharing blood and a vow, the debt only induced a feeling of familial loyalty. Many skilled fighter rose to lordship through such a method after gaining many fellows whose loyalty was assured by the debts bond. The bond unless repaid maintained that loyalty into the next generation and beyond._

_ It was only a century later that it was discovered that an oath of loyalty could be accepted in place of the bond. A man in his thirties had saved a young girl from being killed by a Golden Bear. Her parents immediately tried to arrange a marriage, but he man was disgusted by the age difference. He would have had to marry her within ten years, when she was no old than thirteen; otherwise she would have been enslaved. Instead he managed to get the girl to repeat an oath of loyalty, which in practice made her his child. Saving a child's life became a well accepted method of adoption and the practice of coercing young children into loyalty oaths to their families spread widely. _

_ Having seen the depth and breadth of the power of a life debt and how it could be manipulated the conditions and strictures of life debts grew into even more horrible alternatives. Rescued people were turned into willing magical sacrifices, creating the most powerful wards. People gave away their children, such as in the tale of Rapunzel. The witch traded her healing potions made with her skills for the man's first child._

_ Soon after, healers noticing the powers they could command for their skills and would be forced to if they didn't want slaves, made an oath. Healer's oaths became common to treat all who came to them fairly, and to not take a life. The practice of such oaths spread in both the magical and muggle world, but in the magical world the meaning of not taking a patient's life referred to taking their life in compensation for a life debt. A monetary exchange to pay the healer was given to cement the lack of debt between the healer and patient._

Despite Harry's intrigue at the situation and his pondering at whether Hermione owed Ron and him such a debt, he fell asleep. His book falling by his pillow.

Of course, Harry wasn't sleeping for long. He and the rest of his dorm mates managed to sleep through the commotion of the portrait being slammed open by enraged Professor McGonagall. But when she used her want to emulate a siren, the whole dorm awoke at the shrieking noise. The muggleborn and raised grabbed for their wands and robes prepared for a fire, before rushing down the stairs. Other students were just puzzled, but soon followed after their roommates wondering who had awoken them up.

One muggleborn actually put out the fireplace, with conjured water, as she was half asleep and expecting to deal with a fire. Professor McGonagall immediately stepped in relighting the fire, "What are you doing Ms. Mackenzie?"

"Putting out the fires," she replied automatically. "If a fire's spreading we don't want to give it any help."

"A fire?" the professor asked not knowing the muggle significance. But that ignorance couldn't last long as Hermione stepped forward immediately to explain.

"A siren is used in the muggle world to indicate smoke, through various detectors. A fire is assumed as the cause of each alarm be they small or large so that they can quickly be extinguished before they spread destroying property and often killing trapped people," she explained as diligently as if she was sitting in class. It was much to energetic for, Harry quickly cast a tempus charm, three in the morning.

Calling everyone to order, now that everyone was assured that Hogwarts wasn't burning down because of an out of control magical fire, Professor McGonagall explained the ridiculous wake-up call. "A powerful magical object was stolen from the third floor corridor at some point before midnight tonight and after midnight yesterday. The auror's along with the staff will be searching the castle immediately." A chorus of protest came immediately at such a breach of their privacy. Shouting over them she explained, "The professor's quarters are being searched as well. Now if you have a magical object you don't want the Auror's to find or know about, you will get them immediately. I will take an oath of secrecy not to reveal any of these objects and family heirlooms, or to take an action because of this knowledge unless it was the object stolen."

Harry was so caught up in worrying about his father's cloak that he didn't think about the philosopher's stone hidden in the pocket of the robe he was wearing until he got the cloak from his trunk. Anxiety almost overcame him, but he decided if he was every going to trust the skill of the man who had sworn to protect him, now was the time.

Harry quickly joined the line of people outside McGonagal's office, which had been connected directly to the common room. Everyone who didn't have something to hide had already been escorted to the Great Hall by the aurors. It was a mightily suspicious group that waited, with the Weasley twins standing in front of him and a sixth year girl behind him. Everyone was carrying bags, or holding something underneath their robes, just like he was.

In a way it was interesting to see who had something to hide in the House of Gryffindor. It was clearly obvious that it wasn't just the House of Slytherin that kept secrets, despite the propaganda. Harry after second thoughts had also brought the journal Mrs. Malfoy had gotten him spelled to only work for a family lineage once keyed into it. He had spent the afternoon setting the spells and magically copying his journal so far into it. Madame Pince had been extremely helpful and quite kind once he explained what he was doing.

After only a half an hour's wait Harry stepped into his head of house's office. Professor McGonagall actually looked surprised to see him, but he had been the only first year waiting in line. After repeating the oath that she had explained to them asked, "What do you have to show me Mr. Potter?"

Pulling out the cloak and the journal, Harry started to explain but Professor McGonagall already seemed to know from her knowing gasp. "You're father's invisibility cloak. It's been a long time since I've seen it, and it looks just as perfect as when I last saw it." After a quick spell on it and the journal she continued, "And the magical journal that each Potter is compelled to create. It is good that you have protected yours so early. You're father managed to get in quite a lot of trouble for not protecting his immediately. You can head downstairs now."

Harry tucked the journal under his arm, but carefully tucked the cloak into the inside breast pocket that contained the stone that he knew the Professor's and magical policemen or Auror's were looking for. He knew he was an accomplice to the theft, but he had already made the vow. There was no going back.

The invisibility cloak might even help hide the stone, not that he knew enough about magic to tell though.

Tom Riddle, better Known as Lord Voldemort was panicking, not that he would ever admit to such. He had been awoken in the middle of the night to Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore breaking down his purposeful weak wards, he had put up as Professor Quirrelll. Despite his first instinct to curse them, he cast a moderately powerful shield spell and started to get out of bed.

Of course the two men burst into his bedroom before he even managed to stand up after putting on his slippers. Hogwarts had very cold stone floors. "I-is s-something wro-ong A-albus, S-everus?" he managed to stammer correctly.

"Why yes, Quirius," Albus said looking as cold and serious as he had ever been in his battles against Voldemort. "Someone has stolen the Philosopher's Stone. My nightly check showed that it was missing. We are searching the Professor's quarters who helped guard the stone first, without warning to make sure they can't hide it or send it away." He then proceeded to send a number of highly powered magical scans around the room, which highlighted a number of objects that both Professors's soon dismissed.

Putting on a set of robes, the defense professor asked with his typical stutter, "H-how are you s-sure it's still in Hog-gwarts?"

"The wards would immediately have notified me if an object of such power crossed them. Since they haven't been triggered it must still be on the grounds," Dumbledore explained as he and Severus continued their invasive search. Voldemort was quite happy he didn't have anything particularly dark in his quarters. But he was truly concerned that the boy would never be able conceal the stone. He had cast a powerful notice-me-not on the pocket he had hidden it in, in the boy's robes but it wouldn't be enough. His only option was that they were careless in their search because he was a first year. He wondered if they boy could lie worth a damn. He knows the boy couldn't betray him because of the vow but something would obviously be wrong with the image of Harry Potter stealing such a well guarded object. But Voldemort wouldn't abandon his current resting place within Quirrell until the very last moment. Maybe the infamous Potter luck would be on his side for once.

Quirrell continued to help with the search as they moved onto Professor McGonagall's quarters. He had almost laughed when she had launched herself as a cat on the intruders managing to get her claws quite firmly into Severus's scalp. It was truly pensive worth memory, particularly when Albus conjured a light and the woman transferred back on top of Severus forcing him to the floor. Her descent into swearing in Gaelic was quite impressive. But after explaining the situation they continued the search of the Professor's quarters until they were complete.

Of course, then they called the auror's to help them search the castle, grounds, and dorms. Voldemort knew it would only be luck that got him out of this situation with the stone in hand.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Harry had quickly caught up with the Weasley twins whose meeting had taken much longer. In truth the meeting with Professor McGonagall had reminded him of the Dursley's complaint about passing through customs on their yearly vacation to Majorca. The twins of course had missed the opportunity to tease him.

"I couldn't believe it, Fred," exclaimed George once he caught up with them. They had barely made any headway towards the Great Hall, he had even caught them putting a few things back in the large bags that they were carrying.

"Little potter has a secret, George."

"Our little first year all grown up."

"The only first year Gryff. I tell you he has prankster written all over him."

"We certainly had things to hide as first years, didn't we George," Fred said.

Harry couldn't believe that they were this energetic naturally, they must have taken a potion. Anything else was just too horrible to imagine, natural morning people after just hours of sleep. "You two must be pleased you could show off your collection to the Professor without getting in trouble," Harry commented, not up to entertaining, at least by twin standards, conversation.

One of the twins reached out and ruffled his already messed up hair. "A perfect thought for a prankster in training. You couldn't be more cute and perfect."

"And the bedhead's natural too," the other twin responded. Harry just huffed and moved out of reach too exhausted for anything else. The twins managed to keep up the chatter but even they were trailing off. But finally they were in front of the Great Hall. Harry was so tired he didn't give the auror's a second thought and walked right into the room. The room was set up with piles of sleeping bags and pillows, he headed over their immediately. Most of the Great Hall was already dark light by only the occasional candle and the stars, while students slept in little groups. Grabbing the sleeping gear harry followed the twins to an open spot, crawled into the sleeping bag and collapsed face down on top of his pillow, almost cutting off his air supply.

The twins exchanged smiles, then after casting quite a few charm's to protect the bags they had been forced to take with them, went to sleep as well.

Voldemort swore the kid was going to give him heart failure. He had been one of the teacher's assigned to watch over the students as they were gathered in the Great Hall to sleep once more out of the way of the investigation. The moaning brats had come in large groups at first. The auror's had put up a high powered detection ward that they all had to walk through and he just kept waiting for the brat to walk through and get caught. All the complaints about not looking perfect enough to be seen in public were driving him up the wall, particularly since most of them were coming from his house. He knew Slytherin had a reputation for perfection but it was three o'clock in the morning, they needed to shut up.

Albus quickly called things to order, conjuring muggle sleeping bags and pillows to get them back to their beauty sleep. Voldemort had even minded the muggleness too much; it got the children to sleep. He had never heard so many boys complaining about their looks in his life. The girls of course had been worse, sneaking make-up in their pockets and conjuring mirrors on the sly, but he expected that from teenage girls.

He had finally learned that Malfoys actually were that pretty, perfectly put together or not. It had been a bit of a bet going around the common room during his years at Hogwarts. Abraxas had never been seen anything but perfect. Many pranks had been attempted but he had never been caught, at least quickly enough to tell. Many had suspected glamour spells, particularly during puberty. Not having any acne problems at all was unnatural. When Lucius had joined his death eaters it had been exactly the same, even tortured Lucius was an oddly manly pretty. So Draco, actually looking more attractive without his hair greased back was to be expected. The kid was going to have a hell of a time at Hogwarts, like every Malfoy before him.

Voldemort almost physically shook his head to clear his thoughts. Stress allowed him to be easily sidetracked when there was nothing he could do, which is why he usually had many projects to work on. But this project was too big for him to allow any distractions. After three quarters of the school made it down, the auror's holding the ward were starting to look tired. Voldemort actually allowed himself a bit of hope that they might drop the ward before the brat made it down.

Albus then gathered the teachers who weren't Heads of House and explained that students were allowed to remove any magical objects that they didn't want the aurors to see to be scanned by their head under a secrecy vow. Voldemort felt his spirits drop once more; there was no way the brat would escape a scan, even if he had other magical objects.

But the more time passed without the alarm being called the more his frail hope grew. Students started to trail in, in ones and twos carrying things, but it soon it became obvious that some close friends must have pooled items together so that they didn't all have to wait. The auror's had finally dropped the ward but they would raise it again for people carrying large amounts of things, particularly if they were Slytherins.

His general disregard for the prejudice against Slytherin's wasn't actually helpful in this case, because the littlest Potter getting a pass because he was in Slytherin was exactly what he wanted. But of course when Harry Potter came into sight outside the doors he was with the Weasley twins who were, as expected, carrying large bags of items.

Cursing internally nonstop as the Aurors slowly raised the ward once more, Voldemort froze as Potter walked right through the thing before it was stabilized enough to work. Fucking Potter luck. Voldemort was immensely pleased; as he watched the Weasley's twins walk through the ward getting scanned along with all their items. One item in particular gave off a powerful signature but nowhere close to a philosopher's stone. It had been so long since he was so pleased he wasn't quite sure how to acknowledge it, but he knew that the search wasn't over. The boy might have gotten rid of the stone somewhere in the castle on the walk down, if he hoped not to be caught. He almost smiled despite that at how quickly the boy fell asleep. Children could be cute they could be, when their age suited such actions.

He was starting to feel tired, when the Head's of House gathered to say all the students' belongings had been inspected. It was five o'clock already and he had been awoken at one in the morning. The auror's were noticeably, but the commanding officer insisted on one more scan of the students. Voldemort damned the man for worrying about the hit his reputation would take if he let the Philosopher's Stone be stolen.

The ups and downs was going to drive him crazy soon. He watched them slowly progress across the room, identifying a few high powered objects. The various heads of house would clarify that the object wasn't what they were searching for. Then an auror scanned Potter, it of course indicated a high powered object. Just as he was about to actually start cursing people, Dumbledore walked over.

"Oh, Harry Potter has a very powerful family heirloom with him at school. His father had lent it to me before his death and I gave it to him for Christmas this year," Albus said with a friendly chuckle to the auror standing by. The auror relaxed and moved on.

Voldemort practically collapsed as he finally conjured an arm chair for himself. A powerful heirloom might overwrite the stone under the protections he had provided. Of the boy had hidden it in the school. Either way, he gave up. Potter had the stone, or it was someplace random were it couldn't be tied to either of them. Now he just needed to sleep.

Albus was not happy. The stone was gone. It should still be in Hogwarts but a thorough search had shown that it wasn't. Even talking to the mer-people in the lake hadn't turned up anything. And Quirrell who both Severus and himself had suspected had done nothing. Minerva had had a more violent response to her rooms being broken into. His plans to lure the Dark Lord had either been too good or not good enough. Someone had stolen the stone, but he didn't know who, and his biggest suspect had turned out to be another false trail.

Nicholas was going to kill him. Destroying the stone would have been acceptable if the protections had been overcome, but downright losing it wasn't. Dumbledore had hoped if the stone had been destroyed that Nicholas and his wife would choose to pass on. He had been quite hopeful, maintaining his appearance as the modern time Merlin was a bit hard with Nicholas overseeing things. Now, he knew Nicholas was going to make another stone and get involved in the magical world much more closely than he had in centuries to try and track down the thief. He would need to be much more careful now.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Sorry this is so rough at times. I am writing this for novel writing month so I'm posting it as fast as possible instead of looking it over thoroughly. I am also taking a break from my other story Kiss of Knowledge and Temptation while writing this.

Chapter 6

Despite waking everyone up at a ridiculous hour of the morning the teachers got all the students up at 7 o'clock to have breakfast. It was announced that classes were canceled for the day and that the search for the stolen item was still continuing but the castle itself wasn't hiding it. Harry was tremendously relieved but that relief quickly turned to worry as the older students explained all the ways that the auros had searched them and the castle. He didn't know how they had missed, after actually scanning him for the object, but he wanted it gone. Once he gave it to the man possessing Professor Quirrell their deal would be put in motion.

He also had absolutely no desire to be arrested, though it was another option that would save him from the Dursley's. But he had already made his difficult choice, and despite the curse his savior had brought upon himself he was better than Dementors.

Breakfast was interrupted once more when Professor Dumbledore received a letter from an eagle, a red letter. Harry had already had experience with Howler's due to Ron's mother, and was shocked that someone had the balls to send Dumbledore such a letter in the Great Hall in front of all his students. But his curiosity was quickly satisfied.

"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE," a man's voice said frozen over with anger. " I ENTRUST YOU WITH ONE OF MY MOST PRIZED POSSESIONS FOR ITS PROTECTION AND IT GETS STOLEN ON THE FIRST ATTEMPT. I COULD PROTECT THE STONE BETTER BY BURYING IT IN MY BACKYARD. I DON'T KNOW WHAT FOOL SCHEME YOU'VE ATTEMPTED THIS TIME, YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR. EXPECT ME WITHIN THE DAY, TO EITHER RETRIEVE MY STONE OF TAKE SOMETHING JUST A PRECIOUS FROM YOU. IF I HADN'T ALREADY MADE A SPARE, I WOULD KILL YOU FOR THIS. NOW YOU WILL HAVE TO FACE MY CONTINUED WRATH."

The students were silent; by now everyone knew that the object had been stolen was Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone. Everyone also knew that it had been hidden in the third floor corridor. But for the famous alchemist to come out of his voluntary seclusion would rock the magical world across the globe. Most of his accomplishments had been published with friends, but despite his contributions he had never entered the magical world in more than a century when not under a disguise.

Before the students could truly react, Dumbledore canceled breakfast, removing it from the table. "Students back to your dorm mates immediately," he said strongly before leaving. Chaos, utter chaos took over as students went from talking to yelling to be heard over everyone else. It was utter bedlam and the perfect opportunity for Harry. Looking directly at Professor Quirrell he jerked his head toward the entrance hall, and then left. Once out of sight he immediately pulled his invisibility cloak over him.

Students started to pour out in greater numbers as the teachers chivied them out. Harry stood behind Professor Quirrell and quietly said, "Keep walking." With a casual glance over his shoulder Quirrell started walking towards the second floor. He led Harry straight to the haunted girl's bathroom, after warding it to keep out ghosts.

"It's safe," Voldemort said, "but only for a short period of time someone will notice soon otherwise."

"I have the stone, you need to take it. NOW!" Harry stated calmly but the command was obvious, as he took off the cloak.

"That's why we are here," Quirrell responded. Going to the sinks he said open to one of the taps, causing a great hole to open up. A muttered platform brought a stone floor into place. After dragging Harry onto the platform, a murmured descent sent them descending almost as fast as gravity.

"Where are we?" Harry asked unable to contain his excitement.

"Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets," his savior replied hurrying down a short corridor containing a tremendous snake skin to reach an intricate door locked by snakes. A muttered open opened it as well.

"Shouldn't it be better protected? You're just saying open," Harry said. Quirrell looked at him completely shocked.

"I can't deal with this now, but it is better protected than you could ever know. Now you can give me the stone we are underneath the Hogwarts wards, and have left through a specifically allowed hole. They won't detect its left the school," Professor Quirrell said. He received the stone then opened a hidden compartment of a pillar before closing it and motioning toward the door they had entered.

"But we haven't actually left the school," Harry protested.

"There is another exit," the professor said distracted as they rose up the vertical pipe. With the bathroom quickly back to normal, Harry started to pull on his cloak once more.

"When you're done with the stone you should give it back to Flamel.'

"Why?" Professor Quirrell asked cruelly, "so we wouldn't be stealing."

"No," Harry responded as if he had allowed the hat to put him in Slytherin, "Nicholas Flamel seems a dangerous enemy to have." Harry quickly left and got himself with a group of Gryffindors, so appeared in the common room without any questions.

Voldemort despite himself agreed with the brat as he went his separate way.

Voldemort was quite please. He had the stone. It was in a protected ritual chamber. And he had completed the necessary calculations for the ritual to grow his body. This would require a full month, but the school year wasn't over for a month and a half. He had the time, now he just needed to gather the needed ingredients and get someone he trusted to do the ritual.

That of course, was the difficult part. Voldemort was actually considering the littlest Potter, because Quirrell needed to be part of the ritual as the vessel he was transferring from to his new body or vessel. Normally he would call upon a loyal death eater for the task but as weak as he was, despite feeding off of Quirrell's magic, he didn't trust them. The truly loyal or insane were in Azkaban, the rest were either dead or looking a bit too comfortable with the new status quo after claiming to be under the imperius curse.

Potter actually seemed to be a likely candidate due to his interest in the Olde Ways and his reverence for magic. Any good ritualist revered magic and attempted to serve her. He himself had been a respected ritualist before the height of the war. During the war he had started to lose her favor. He knew he had turned to darker and darker methods, but it had all been to bring about a revival of magic.

Thinking back to the ritual, Voldemort decided that Harry Potter would be adequate and with a bit of instruction maybe even good. But he should probably include one of his horcruxes to make the ritual go more smoothly. Retrieving Ravenclaw's Diadem from the Room of Requirement wouldn't be too difficult. But getting the time to give Harry Potter private lessons and time to discuss his terms of the vow, now that would be difficult.

Despite Dumbledore's seemingly hands off approach to the wizarding world's savior, he kept very close tabs on him. It was a bit despicable of the light Headmaster to use the boys friends in such a fashion, but leaders used every option available to them to complete their goal. Albus Dumbledore might have claimed the moral superiority with the public in the last war, but his treatment of his servants had been worse. Voldemort hadn't suspected anything of the sort until Peter Pettigrew defected to his side. For Magic's sake, he tortured his followers when they made a mistake, of course he thought he was harder and stricter on his servant.

But Pettrigrew revealed the real truth. When Dumbledore was punishing his followers, he sent them into traps of Voldemort's. Some made it back alive, but only the most talented. But the most horrifying punishments went to the people that spoke out against him. Them, he would arrange for the wards around their properties to fall. Once Voldemort had learned that he was Dumbledore's method of punishment he had been enraged. It made him wonder if Dumbledore had planned for Pettigrew to be the Potter's secret keeper. His followers knew exactly what they were getting into with him, and they had a strict chain of command that they followed. Dumbledore's grandfatherly advice on the other hand was just supposed to be translated into strict commands. There was no honor in such a practice.

He was interrupted from his musings by a knock on his office door. It was easy for him to disguise the ritual's calculations among his students work. In generally, he despised disorganization but in this aspect it was helping him.

"Co-ome in," Quirrell said, as the person hadn't entered yet.

The door opened to revel Professor Flitwick, aah he was too polite to just burst in after little warning. Some of the other professors weren't so polite, particularly Severus but he had never been too polite to begin with. "There is a staff meeting in just five minutes," Flitwick said, before elaborating at Quirrell's questioning look. "Albus wants to discuss what to do when Nicholas Flamel shows up."

"Indeed," Voldemort was quite interested to hear the Headmaster's speculation since he didn't have a clue.

God, Harry's luck was terrible. He had been going down to dinner after stopping by the library when he ran into an older man in the corridor. He hadn't physically run into the man, as wasn't that uncoordinated, but it would have easily passed. Instead the older gentleman asked, "Would you mind telling me what's been going on around Hogwarts?"

"You mean with the theft." Harry presumed. "Are you with the aurors?"

"No, I'm Nicholas Flamel," said the older gentleman looking quite fantastic for over six hundred years old.

Harry's luck had finally turned against him. He had thought he had been too lucky managing to hide the philosopher's stone from the aurors. Now it seemed he needed to pay Magic back for his good fortune with this misfortune. "Oh, of course, anything you want to know," Harry replied resigned to having a private conversation with the man he had helped steal from. And for all he knew the man had special truth telling powers, so he had better stick to the truth as closely as possible.

"I wanted to get an idea of what the general student population knew about my stone and how it was being protected."

"Well," Harry replied, "the headmaster told us in the opening feast that if we wanted to avoid a very painful death we should avoid the third floor corridor. I think Filch and Mrs. Norris tended to stay in the area to keep away the curious. But my friends and I were out late after curfew running from Filch when we went there by accident."

"You must be Harry Potter, with those looks and that kind of luck," Flamel said with a chuckle.

"You know about my family? I've tried to learn more about it but someone only just told me that each Potter wrote a journal and that I could read them before my seventeenth birthday." Harry's curiosity was very obvious to the observant man.

"Potter's luck has always been famous. Not because they always have good luck or even bad luck, but rather the extremes they get of both. You might be familiar with the term karma. I've always thought it was similar, but instead of getting what you deserve it is the balance of good and bad luck. I have always suspected that one of your ancient ancestors found a djinn and set it free in exchange for three wishes. One a wish for luck for all his descendants, but as with djinn you should always be careful what you wish for. The second, I speculated, was for the family to always survive. The Potter line came close to be extinguished many times; you are not the only single survivor in your family. And the last wish I have always thought must be for love. Not a single Potter hasn't found their true love, in one form or another. It doesn't always go smoothly or as expected, as demonstrated by your father's rather epic courtship of your mother since he failed quite badly for yours to gain her attention."

Harry smiled blindingly up at the alchemist. He had never heard anything similar about his parents, just how in love they had been. In a way it made it more real to him that his father had had to work for years to get the love of his life. Just like Karma, as Mr. Flamel had said. The idea of one of his ancestors finding a djinn was astounding, mythical, and the most magical thing he had heard about his family. Maybe that had been how they gained their lordship in magic's eyes.

It was also comforting to know that he wasn't the only Potter who was struggling to learn his family values and history. If others had done it before him, then he would be able to learn and live up to his family line.

"Oh, but I interrupted you story," Mr. Flamel prompted Harry.

"Yeah. So, we were escaping the caretaker and were trying to hide. We went to the nearest door and it was locked, so our friend unlocked it and we hide in the room. At first we thought we were safe until we turned around and saw the giant three headed dog behind us. We ran out of there as fast as possible, but not before my more observant friend noticed the trap door under the Cerebrus's feet. We researched what type of creature it was, and then Hagrid told us about Fluffy."

"Fluffy?" the alchemist asked incredulous. The small boy nodded back quite confidently. "So all you learned was the first level of protection?"

"Well," Harry hesitantly added, "when we questioned Hagrid why such a dangerous creature was in the school he told us it was none of our business, but rather only the headmaster's and you business."

"He mentioned me by name?" It seemed Albus's staff was absolutely incompetent.

"Yes, he didn't tell us about the stone of course. But … my friend did manage to figure it out after a couple months. She had us researching in books about recent important figures since she had heard your name before but couldn't remember it."

"That must have been quite frustrating," Flamel commented amused despite the man his anger at Albus over such lax appearing protections.

"It was quite horrible," Harry replied sincerely before bidding the man goodbye as he went on toward his dinner, happy he hadn't done or said anything incriminating.


End file.
